Bag and Boy
by alijoz97
Summary: Airplane AU. Lily has troubles with her bag, but not necessarily with the boy who helps her. J/L. Jily. AU. All that good stuff.


"—bloody impossible—sodding—_damn_ it all—"

Lily pushed against the luggage, really throwing her shoulder into it, doing her best to shove her bag between two pet carriers and a laptop satchel. Finally—_finally_—she managed to get the stupid thing into the compartment; she could've screamed in triumph. It wasn't pretty, but it was there, wedged among the other bags, sticking out like a sore thumb. One of the pet carriers was now backwards, but Lily found that she really, really didn't care.

Not quite the best attitude to have going into a fourteen-hour long flight, she figured, but—hell—she didn't really care about not caring, either.

"Do you reckon the compartment'll close?" the guy in line behind her asked curiously, pressing his lips down to keep from smiling.

"Sorry," Lily said, trying to control herself. "_What_?"

"It has to close," he told her. "Or else the plane doesn't even take off."

"Rude of them, isn't it?" muttered Lily, placing her ticket between her teeth before turning back around to face down the Obnoxious Overhead Compartment for the second time today. She reached for the handle and gave it a nice hard _slam_ downwards.

It bounced right back up.

"Need a hand?" the guy—his luggage label read J. Potter—asked. Without turning around, Lily could practically hear just how entertained he was, standing there, watching her struggle with the damn compartment.

"I can manage," Lily grunted, pushing at the section again.

"Come on," the bloke—Potter—said, tucking his bag beneath his arm and helping her push the compartment down. Plastic cracked on plastic, and the sound reverberated throughout the interior of the plane. It sounded like a gunshot, causing a lot of the already-sitting-down-and-awaiting-take-off passengers to jump. One lady screamed. Somewhere on the plane, a dog barked.

He—Lily's savior—cursed under his breath. "Sorry!" he cried, swiveling in his place. The plane was so quiet; you could've heard a pin drop. "Won't happen again, I swear! Totally my fault!"

Lily blushed—everybody was staring at the two of them, now, and she'd never done well under such scrutinizing stares. She also found herself working hard to control the fit of giggles trying to escape her mouth. Was she a mess or what?

"You're welcome," he said after noise began to refill the interior of the plane.

"Thank you," she said, smiling. She couldn't stop smiling.

"You're welcome," he repeated. She hit his shoulder, and he grinned at her. "Do I get to know the name of the woman I rightly embarrassed in front of everyone on the plane?"

"Lily," she said, surprised at how quickly the word came. She felt like her tongue had been waiting to tell him, waiting for him to ask.

"I suppose I'll see you around, then, Lily. Maybe on a trip to the loo—maybe when I'm harassing the flight attendant for another bag of peanuts—"

"The peanuts _are_ the best part of the flight," Lily confirmed. "Remind me to put some in my bag, yeah? I didn't get my sister anything in Scotland, so the peanuts'll have to do."

He laughed—a surprised, choking sound—and she smiled even wider. He gathered his belongings and gave her a wink. He then glanced at his ticket, his eyes flickering to the seat numbers and then he passed her without another word, his arm brushing against his shoulder. She didn't look back, mainly because she was _not_ one of those girls that pined for the stranger that made her laugh for three seconds. She told herself that the electricity she was feeling up and down her arm was nothing, and that the air conditioning was on too high, causing goosebumps.

He hadn't been _that_ cute, either.

So, she sighed instead, and apologized to the stragglers that had had to wait behind her as she dealt with her luggage and the Obnoxious Overhead Compartment, and collapsed into her seat.

Maybe she'd see him at baggage claim. Or randomly in the middle of the street one day. Or maybe—

"Oi! Lily!"

Lily whirled around, hating how her heart stuttered, not even a little bit surprised to see him standing a few rows down, gesturing towards his own bag—that incredible smile threatening to overtake his face was prominent even from where she was sitting—with the overhead compartment propped open.

Lily couldn't help the smile that etched itself onto her own face.

She was up and out of her chair before he could even ask for her help.

"James," he blurted immediately when she was standing in front of him. "My name's James. And I want you to sit next to me for this flight. If you'd like to, at least. I wouldn't want to force you into anything. It's just—it's a long flight, and you look about as lonely as I am, so—"

Lily found herself nodding—why was she nodding? This was a stranger. He could be a kidnapper or a thief or—or a politician! Why did she want so badly to sit next to him?

She glanced back towards her own seat—a guy with greasy hair and large eyebrows was now vacating her empty seat, and Lily couldn't help but thank the heavens and gods above that such a deliciously unexpected turn of events was happening to her.

"Well, James, it looks like your lucky day, seeing as my spot is now being taken anyway." She jerked her thumb behind her, pointing towards the man inspecting the window seat with carefulness. James glanced back, and the smile (this time) took over his face completely.

"Terrible news, that," he said. He didn't look remotely sorry.

"Just the worst."

"So that's a yes, you'll sit by me?"

"So long as I get the window seat."

James sighed dramatically, pushing his hand into his hair. "I dunno…."

Lily grinned. "Fantastic!"

She moved into the seat (after checking with the flight attendant that it was okay), and James followed, and they pressed their faces against the tiny plastic window, Lily's stomach erupting into butterflies as the captain announced their preparation for takeoff.

And then James mumbled something into her ear, low and confident and strong, and Lily laughed, settling back into her seat, realizing that maybe the flight wasn't the reason for the pesky butterfly wings flapping uselessly against the interior of her belly.

**Please please please please PLEASE R&R! :) Thanks, lovelies. **


End file.
